Abstract
This review summarizes the catalyst- and solvent-free grafting and cross-linking of common polymers with unsaturated bonds exploiting kinetically stabilized nitrile N-oxides via click process. The nitrile N-oxides enable the efficient 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition to internal olefins, nitrile groups, and alkynes incorporated into versatile polymers such as polyacrylonitrile (PAN), natural rubber (NR), acrylonitrile butadiene rubber (NBR), ethylene-propylene-diene terpolymer (EPDM), and internal alkyne-containing polymer to give the corresponding functionalized polymers. The reaction features i) catalyst-free procedure, ii) versatile applicability to various polymers, iii) high yield, iv) no byproduct, and v) remarkable acceleration of reaction rate under solvent-free condition. The applications of the stable nitrile N-oxide-based reactions to cross-linking reaction are also discussed.
